April 16th, 2021 is National Health Decisions Day (NHDD)!
NHDD exists to inspire, educate and empower the public and providers about the importance of advanced care planning. Advanced care planning involves making decisions about the healthcare you would want to receive if you’re facing a medical crisis.
Authorizing a healthcare proxy (also called a durable medical power of attorney) can be the most important part of your advance care planning. A healthcare proxy is a person you trust to be your voice in a medical crisis if you are unable to make your wishes known. Appointing someone you trust ensures that your medical treatment instructions will be carried out according to what matters most to you. Having the conversation will deepen your relationship with that person and soothe any anxieties you may have that your wishes won’t be followed.
Vital Decisions has made it their mission to ensure that everyone has a healthcare proxy. This year, in honor of NHDD, ResolutionCare is joining Vital Decisions’ campaign to plant a tree for every proxy named throughout April via their My Living Voice platform, which is free and open to the public. Trees represent the strong and stable force that a healthcare proxy can play in your life.
If you do only one thing this National Healthcare Decisions Day, have it be picking your proxy. You won’t regret it.
~ Emily Trutt
Assistant Director of Human Resources and Administration
ResolutionCare Network
Did it for me and my husband, so easy to do yet we all forget the importance of it now a days. Most think it;ll never happen to them. Just being in the wrong place at the wrong time…..God is the only one that knows for sure !! I made a copy and put it in our car. How do we know if a tree will be planted, it doesn’t really say as the next step.
So glad I found your blog and this site. I am a Hospice Nurse, on call. God chose my occupation after 35 years of being a nurse. I got a call from Heartland Hospice, Cartersville, GA without applying for a job. Now 5 years later, getting a new job working in palliative care to mix things up. Thank-you for all you do. I will enjoy reading your past archives. I try to learn something new everyday. God Bless.